Dick Swanson, 74, Was Longtime Tv Newsman

OBITUARIES

Swanson of Orlando, who covered the Walt Disney World story from 1965 when news of the theme park became public, died Thursday of cancer. He was 74.

``He took a cameraman out to the [Disney) property and shot some footage in what was nothing but a swamp to announce that's where the park would be,'' recalled his daughter Donna Highsmith. ``A storm was coming, and the wind was blowing. It was wild.''

Swanson, who was anchor for the 6 and 11 p.m. news and served as assistant news editor during his eight years at Channel 9, also covered the early Apollo spaceflights and interviewed astronauts Alan Shepard and John Young.

But he was most impressed by Sir Edmund Hillary, the New Zealander who led the first expedition to the top of Mount Everest in 1953. Swanson told his family that Hillary, who had come to Orlando on a speaking engagement, was the most interesting person he had ever met.

Swanson began his announcing career in the 1940s at radio stations in Minnesota, Indiana and North Carolina.

``He had the most fantastic voice you ever heard,'' said his wife, Mildred Swanson. ``He could pronounce anything, and he had an ear for language, including foreign languages.''

He broke into television in Atlanta in 1951 and moved to a TV news director job in Chattanooga, Tenn., in 1960.

After retiring from television in Orlando in 1973, he worked as a facilities inspector for the Orange County school system for 10 years.

Swanson attended First Baptist Church of Orlando and was a member of Sigma Delta Chi, a fraternal organization for journalists.

He is also survived by daughter Dawn Roberts of Orlando, and three grandchildren.

Arrangements are being handled by At Peace Cremation Services in Sarasota. In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to the American Cancer Society.